Lansing, Michigan - Started as an after-school endeavor for two high school boys, the TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® franchise system is now the fifth-largest moving company in the United States with revenue nearing $90 million in 2001. On April 25, the company will dedicate its new Lansing headquarters.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®/INTERNATIONAL, Inc., known as Home Office to the system’s 114 franchise locations, relocated from an office building in Okemos to a newly built 20,000-square foot facility on Belle Chase Way in south Lansing. The new building also houses STICK MEN UNIVERSITY®, the company’s state-of-the-art training facility.

STICK MEN UNIVERSITY® is a specialized training center specifically geared towards employees and franchisees in the moving industry. Attendees learn the latest operational techniques, and sharpen their skills in a number of other areas including customer service, marketing, management and computer technology.

The expanded facility offers students the opportunity to learn packing and moving techniques with a custom-built indoor Lucite truck box that is identical to many of the nearly 650 TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® trucks on the road each day. The new STICK MEN UNIVERSITY® also includes a six-station computer lab, a classroom with enhanced audio-visual capabilities, as well as a kitchen and lunchroom.

“Training is TWO MEN AND A TRUCK®’s trademark, and our commitment to it enables us and all of our employees to consistently deliver exceptional customer service and distinguish ourselves from the competition,” said TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® President Melanie Bergeron, adding that the company is launching on-line training in 2002, as well as adding a certification program for frontline staff members at all the company’s locations.

Bergeron’s mother, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® Founder and CEO Mary Ellen Sheets, feels it is important for the company to invest in its employees, and assure that they are learning more than just the proper moving techniques. “By including marketing, management and computer training, our employees are able to provide the best customer service possible, as well as create additional opportunities for themselves within the company,” Sheets said, adding that she loves to hear the success stories of movers and drivers who work their way up the ladder to become managers and franchisees.

Sheets and Bergeron are dedicated to continuing the more than 20 percent annual growth rate the company has experienced in the past several years.

According to Bergeron, the new building was necessary to allow the company to expand at its current rate of growth. In the past four years, the company’s revenues have more than doubled from the $40 million figure achieved in 1998. In fact, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® has shown positive growth every year since the company’s inception in 1985.

“Needless to say we are very, very proud and thankful,” Sheets said, recalling the days when she ran TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® from a green antique desk she bought at an auction for $35. “Now we have our own building. Before it was even completed I walked around in disbelief; 20,000 square feet, an elevator, even directional arrows in the parking lot! It truly is an example of the American Dream.”

Lansing city officials and many local business people are expected to be on hand in recognition of Sheets, a former state employee who has built the business from the ground up. Sheets and Bergeron will also be present, as will her sons, the original “two men” Brig and Jon Sorber, who both remain active with the company. Brig serves as Director of Licensing, while Jon is the President of franchises in Lansing and Grand Rapids. Both have additional duties as members of the Board of Directors.

TWO MEN AND A TRUCK® is the nation’s first and largest local moving franchise with 114 locations in 23 states with nearly 650 trucks. For more information, contact Home Office at 517-394-7210.